Natural Resource
by Angel of Fire SG1
Summary: What if Daniel had walked in one or two minutes later? (Spoilers for The Lost City pt I) Jack


**NATIONAL TREASURE**

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**SEASON: 7**

**SPOILERS: Lost City pt I**

**PAIRINGS: Sam/Jack**

**SUMMARY: What if Daniel had taken 2 minutes longer to knock on the door?**

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah yeah its not mine – if it was Daniel wouldn't have interrupted quite yet…;)**

**A/N: Hey!! I'm bored so I'm making up fan fic outta nowhere lol – so if you'll excuse me!!**

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Jack pulled the door open, expecting to find Daniel, maybe Teal'c standing there…but instead he found himself face to face with Sam.

"Hi, sir," she said, smiling.

He stood there for a moment staring at her. She was dressed nicely – but why was she there? A thousand thoughts ran through his mind…until he finally rested on two. She'd either been sent here by Hammond, or she'd just come. He thought the first one was much more likely – Sam never turned up at his doorway without someone else there with her. That's when he realised he was probably looking like an idiot not saying anything.

"Carter?" he said.

"Did I wake you?" she asked.

"Sorta…" he replied.

She nodded slightly and paused for a minute. "I couldn't sleep at all last night. 

_What do I say?_ He thought. 

"Shoulda called…" he said.

"I didn't wanna bother you I…" she stopped.

They were still standing in the doorway. He signalled to her to come in and she walked past him into the house.

"I was just, looking at the sky…" he said, shutting the door. "Trying to figure out how many stars, we'd actually been to!"

He knew what was coming next.

"Actually…" Sam paused, knowing she was doing the predictable thing. "Only a few of the stars visible from Earth have Stargate's on them."

"I knew that…" Jack replied. 

_Why is she here?_He wondered again.

"Hammond send you by?" he asked, almost cringing as he said it.

He didn't wanna sound like he was suggesting that he _didn't_ want her to be coming around. Even though this would probably be the last time that…

"No!" she said, then she paused and smiled. "It's funny really…I uh…I was out driving, you know – in my car – and I …uh…I drove here…" She made a small nervous noise that sounded something like 'yeah' and looked at the floor. 

The whole time she was saying this her arms were swinging.

She was nervous…Jack observed.

"Funny…" he repeated.

"Yeah…" she said.

There was a short silence and then Jack turned.

"There's coffee out here…" he said, and then on second thought added. "I think…"

Sam wandered into the living room while he searched in the kitchen…finding no coffee.

~*~

Sam stood on the stairs, looking at the living room. She didn't know whether to smile or to cry. This could be the last time she stood in this house, alone with Jack…the sad part was it was also the first time they'd been alone here. 

"Maybe not," came a shout from the kitchen, cutting into her thoughts. She turned to face him.

"How about a beer?" he asked.

"Sure…why not?" she figured alcohol couldn't do any harm to her nerves. 

She walked down the stairs into the living room. Her eye fell on a photo of Jack with Sara and Charlie. A pang of jealousy hit her. She picked it up and held it in her hand. He'd lost so much, and here she was just wanting something…Jack had already had that life – the wife and the child. A perfect family. She'd never had perfect family – even as a child she hadn't had a perfect family. She tried to push the jealousy away…but instead found herself wondering if he ever still talked to Sara. Did they still talk? 

She heard him taking off the bottle lid and was pulled out of her thoughts. She placed the picture back where it had come from as Jack came around the corner with the beers.

"Want a glass? I can wash one…" he offered.

She smiled. "No, I'm fine. Thank you, sir."

She said sir…she shouldn't have said sir. There was another awkward silence.

"So, do you ever talk to her?" she asked, pointing at the picture of Sara.

He stared at the photo for a second then looked back at her.

"Can we not talk about that?" he asked.

"Sorry…" she searched her mind for something to say. "So how're you feeling?"

He seemed to think about it for a moment. "Can we not talk about that either?"

"OK…what do you wanna talk about?" she asked, turning around and watching him sit down on the couch.

She knew exactly what she wanted to talk about…but she couldn't bring herself to say that. Not yet anyway. She walked over to where he was sitting, he still didn't reply. She guessed he was waiting for her to bring it up – but she didn't have the courage for that. 

What was she doing there? Maybe he didn't want her there…

"You want me out of the way…" she placed her beer on the table, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. "This was a bad idea. I should go," she said pointing to the door.

"You should finish your beer first…and then you'll have to wait at _least_ an hour before you can drive…" he said.

She felt herself smile slightly. Maybe he _did _want her there. Or maybe he was just being nice…she sat down.

"Sir…" she started.

_Crap…now what do I say? _She asked her. She had so many things she wanted to say – she didn't know what to say. _Oh__ god now he's looking at me, waiting for me to say something!_

"What?" he asked…it was a soft 'what' not his usual 'WHAT?'

She suddenly knew she was talking to his other half. The half that knew he was going to die, that didn't joke about it – the side that wanted to tell her…things….he never could.

"I should have done it," she blurted out, meaning it. She didn't want him to die.

"What? Stick your head in that thing?" Jack asked. "You nuts?"

_No…_she thought to herself as she looked into his eyes.

She opened her mouth to say something and he looked away.

"Carter…" he paused. "You're one of this country's natural resources…if not, national treasures…"

Sam thought her heart was about to melt…that had to be the sweetest thing she had ever heard him say about her. She felt herself turning red so she looked at her hands, not wanting him to see her. 

"It couldn't have gone down any other way," he said, she could still feel his eyes watching her.

She looked back up at him, their eyes meeting again. She wanted to say so much, the emotion was build up inside of her. If she didn't say something soon she was going to burst into tears. He looked away, taking another sip of his beer. "I just hope its worth it."

Another pang of emotion hit her right in her chest. She had to say something! But what? She wanted to let him know how she felt about him, but she couldn't find the words.

"Even if we do find the Lost City, even if we get there and find exactly what we're looking for to defend the planet…" she started.

"That…would be worth it," Jack cut her off, drinking more beer.

As he wasn't looking she shook her head slightly and looked down again. Did he really think that? He meant so much to her…maybe he was right…maybe it would be worth it.

~*~

He couldn't believe that she would say that it should have been her. He knew that's not what she was really saying…she was telling him that she would die to save him. He knew that…he didn't know what he should say. That's why he responded with telling her she was a national treasure.

Was that enough?

He looked around. This was probably his last chance to say anything.

But what on Earth should he say?

"Carter…"

"Colonel…" she said at the same time.

"You go," he said.

"No, no…you go," she replied.

They both smiled. Sam looked back at her hands.

"Sir, there's so much I have to say…" she started.

"I know," Jack replied, then after a moment he added. "Me too…"

There was another awkward silence and suddenly there was a knock on the door. Jack looked at Sam – their eyes met.

He leaned forward and suddenly they were closer than they had been in years. Jack looked into Sam's eyes and then leaned in. Their lips met and they shared a short kiss.

"Hellooo?" a voice called from the hallway.

Sam pulled back. Surprised that Daniel would enter the house…yet not at the same time.

Their moment was over.

Sam could only hope that wouldn't be the last moment they ever shared…she stared at the clock – knowing there was only a couple of days left.

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**A/N: Just quick fan fic cos I was bored but now I gotta go to work!! PLEASE REVIEW!! :D:D**


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